David Jacobs (gymnast)
| David Jacobs | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Jacobs and Judy Wills in 1968 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Country represented | United States | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | March 2, 1942 Sheboygan, Wisconsin, U.S. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Discipline | Trampoline gymnastics | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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David Jacobs (born March 3, 1942) is a retired athlete, American trampoline gymnast, and popular meme fixture. During the 1960s, he found mild-fame when he won several top-level trampolining medals. He found widespread fame in 2019 after appearing in a comical segment on Impractical Jokers.
Life and career[edit]
Jacobs was born in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, to Careta (née Aschenbach). The family moved to Amarillo, Texas, in 1957, and moved back to Sheboygan in 1965. While a sophomore, he joined Nard's trampoline club in Texas.[1]
In 1964, he competed at the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) championships and finished third. While there, he began a working relationship with Eddie Cole.[1]
Jacobs was a student at the University of Michigan (U of M) during the 1960s. At the 1966 Trampoline World Championships (TWC), he won the synchronized trampoline title with fellow Michigan student Wayne Miller.[2]
He is also known for his unintentional appearance on the reality TV series Impractical Jokers. In the 2019 episode "Irritable Vowel Syndrome", a 77-year-old Jacobs was shopping at a Fairway Market, when he met comedian Brian Quinn, who was performing a challenge for the show. Quinn started a conversation with Jacobs afterwards, where Jacobs mentioned that he was a "superhuman athlete" and showed Quinn a video of his performance on YouTube. The other members of the group approached Jacobs one by one requesting to take a picture with him after claiming they had seen his videos of his athletics while making fun of Quinn for not knowing who Dave Jacobs is.[3]
References[edit]
- ^ a b "City-Born Tramp Star Holds All Major Titles". The Sheboygan Press. November 11, 1967. p. 16. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
- ^ "U.S. Retains Tumbling Title". The Shreveport Journal. April 30, 1966. p. 5. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
- ^ "Q Meets A Living Legend". TruTV.com. Retrieved August 26, 2021.
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